Isis wallet app changes name

By Sarah Rabil

Bloomberg News

Posted:
09/03/2014 08:26:39 AM PDT

Updated:
09/03/2014 08:39:11 AM PDT

The Isis mobile wallet app backed by three of the largest U.S. wireless carriers is changing its name to Softcard after a violent military group of the same name began to dominate headlines around the world.

Isis, a joint venture between AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc., announced the new brand on its website today after saying it planned to change its name almost two months ago.

The software company, which enables users to securely store financial information and pay in stores by tapping their smartphones, shared its name with the Islamic State extremist group responsible for thousands of recent deaths across Iraq and Syria, including the executions of American journalists.

The al-Qaeda splinter group, founded in April 2013 with the goal of restoring an Islamic state, has widely been called ISIS by some English-speaking media outlets, short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. The United Nations, President Barack Obama and Bloomberg News refer to the group as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL.